Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rack arrays or arrangements for supporting a variety of different sizes and configurations of body fluid specimen containers or tubes in a clinical laboratory environment. More particularly, this invention relates to individual components of such an array which may be joined together to provide a greater or lesser amount of capacity for storing and/or holding in an upright manner a plurality of tubes of the kind discussed above.
As will be understood, in the present environment of infectious diseases, it has become important to take body fluid specimens to a great degree from many patients, whether or not they may be patients in a hospital or simply in a clinical laboratory for an examination. Because of the huge increase in examinations for such infectious diseases such as AIDS, and hepatitis, many tubes and/or containers are accumulated in a clinical laboratory in a short period of time for examination of the specimens contained in those tubes and/or containers. Because of this, it becomes most important to be able to arrange such tubes and/or containers in a stationary and or storage arrangement until such time as the specimen contained in the containers can be examined
Moreover, in certain instances, the containers need to be exposed for a period of time to increased temperature levels and a specifically controlled environment to develop the cells in a specimen taken from an individual patient. In some instances, the support trays or arrays of the invention allow for the exposure of a larger quantity of such tubes and/or containers in a closed environment under certain temperature conditions in order to enhance the development and/or improvement of the specimen for subsequent examination.
Because of this great increase in the number of such specimen containers, it becomes most important for the laboratory technician to be able to quickly arrange for the support of large quantities of such containers or tubes which arrive in the laboratory for handling. In many instances, these tubes may be of a variety of different dimensions. Some have a conical bottom so that the tubes will not stand alone. Thus, with the invention here, the technician may join together a plurality of modular units in a single array or arrangement for accommodating, for example, tubes having conical bottoms and having a diameter of, for example, 12 mm. up to, perhaps, 61 mm.
With the arrangement herein, all of these varieties of tubes or other containers may be held and supported for handling simultaneously for subsequent examination or exposure to whatever activity is required in order to examine or otherwise treat the specimens contained in the container. Again, while the general arrangement of the modular unit making up the arrangement or array of the invention is universal in its general size and application, the unit may be joined together with other units by the end user in a "mix and match" arrangement to accommodate the differing size of tubes and/or containers involved. The modular racks are also arranged to, as discussed above, accommodate containers with a conical bottom surface or the containers may be flat bottomed or round. Finally, the modular arrangements of the invention, which may be joined together in an appropriately desired array or arrangement for container support, may be comprised of materials which are autoclavable in the laboratory. That is, once they have been used and contaminated, they may be autoclaved for disposal. Alternatively, if desired and/or required because of the specimen character involved, the units may be comprised of a cost effective a material which may be discarded after each use.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.